Bogus Bohemians of late-1960s New York model Mod cotton fashions.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Unknown
Sponsor: Cotton Producers Association
Audio/Visual: Sd, C
Keywords: Fashion; New York City: History; Consumerism

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: slacker614 - - April 9, 2011
Subject: dreamy
the music is kinda dreamy and reminded me of those softcore films of the 60s..despite its faults...i enjoyed this film..it gives a glimpse of what might have been..which is what film tries to do anyway...

Reviewer: Bizr Pix - - October 6, 2009
Subject: Bohemian cotton-wearing squares
So where are the artists? Oops, I forgot. There aren't any, because they might mess up their oh-so-hip cotton outfits! And artists would never be able to afford 364 coordinated outfits plus the Nehru jackets and stylish accessories necessary to be a resident of Greenwich Village in the late 60s!

I had to scratch my head a little to figure out what the 'RFD' stood for. I think it might be in reference to 'Mayberry RFD' which I think came out around the same time as this turkey.

Reviewer: RyanWalker - - September 22, 2006
Subject: Help with info?
Does anybody have any idea who the performer is that is shown playing for like 2 seconds in a club right after the nightlife section begins? Is it Neil Young? Anybody have any idea how to dig further?

Reviewer: ERD - - October 25, 2005
Subject: Trendy
Trendy commerical for its time

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - August 12, 2004
Subject: Oh No! It's the Stepford Village!
This late-60s film, made by cotton producers, is purportedly about Greenwich Village, except itÃÂs the most gawdawful square film ever made. Robotic catalog models practice ÃÂrelaxed suburban livingÃÂ in the Village, wearing comfortable cotton clothes, while a laid-back narrator drones on and on about how carefree their ÃÂcountry lifestyleÃÂ is, and Muzak plays in the background. Everybody is white, and the only sign of hippies is a very brief view of a graffiti-covered wall with peace signs on it. Even given that I lived through the 60s as a child in Omaha, Nebraska, I can hardly believe this film exists. ItÃÂs as if all signs of the counterculture had been cleansed from one of its hotbeds, leaving a fresh, lemony scent behind. Contrast it with Greenwich Village Sunday, and see if it doesnÃÂt feel like The Stepford Village to you. It even makes Coffee House Rendezvous look like Columbia Revolt! Unfortunately, after your jaw drops, itÃÂs boring as all get-out, and that lowers its rating somewhat, though it does have the distinction of being the first film IÃÂve ever reviewed to get a ÃÂBOMBÃÂ in the Historical Interest category.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: BOMB. Overall Rating: ****.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - April 28, 2004
Subject: Groovy Cotton + Greenwich Village = Shagadelics!
Quite possibly the only fashion travelogue you'll ever see, this gem mixes shots of Greenwich village with uh, "natives" (read bad actors) pretending to be "bohemian" while wearing the up-to-the-minute cotton Nehru Jacket and hideous green print shirt from such fashion dynamos such as Glen Of Michigan. Who are they trying to kid? Similar to Greenwich Village Sunday where you can pick out the actors a mile away, I REALLY liked this because of the trippy music, the ever so coy narration and the two actors trying so hard to fit in like a square peg. Highly reccomended!

Reviewer: Marysz - - March 4, 2004
Subject: Groovy Cottons in the Village
A film financed by the Cotton Producers Association pushing cotton clothing for ÃÂcountrified cosmopolitans.ÃÂ A ÃÂmodÃÂ young couple frolic through the streets of Greenwich Village wearing a variety of cotton outfits. The film is dated 1969, but the way the people on the street look, and the fact that neither of the models wear bell-bottoms suggests that it was made a few years earlier, maybe around 1967. Although the Village area was one of the hotbeds of the emerging sixties counter-culture and the anti-war movement, we see no signs of it here, needless to say. This filmÃÂs interest in the VillageÃÂs ÃÂoffbeatÃÂ atmosphere is confined to using it as a vehicle to sell its products. The two models posturing in their ÃÂcarefree cottonÃÂ clothing become increasingly grating as the film goes along. They act out a caricature of youthful behaviorÃÂI suspect the filmmakers themselves were middle-aged. In a scene shot at a ÃÂparty in the garret of a bohemian friend,ÃÂ a guest stagily wears sunglasses and a beret; the filmÃÂs producers were still in the ÃÂbeatnikÃÂ mode. Even in the sanitized form shown here, the filmÃÂs scenes of the Village in the sixties have interesting documentary value. Some of the shots, particularly in Washington Square Park, look like they were shot earlier; older footage was probably spliced in to pad out the film.

Reviewer: dbieber - - October 4, 2003
Subject: Assignment for SPC 4930
After I wasted my time watching an old archive about carefree cotton in Greenwich Village, I decided to not subject myself to anymore of boring footage. The marketing was similar to todayÃÂsÃÂ in that many commercials present images that donÃÂt necessarily pertain to the product, but help sell it. I am not here to critique it but instead review how it illuminates urban life. In the opening of the film there was quick sweep of footage of New York City as a whole. Then it placed the part called, Greenwich. ÃÂIn the shadows of modern Manhattan, surrounded by glass and steel, yet only a subway stop away from the seething city, with its crowds of people, hectic workday schedules, and the office routine. . . lies the sleepy village called GreenwichÃÂ. The film stated that Greenwich is a suburban oasis in an urban setting. It went on to show the winding streets, churches, courtyards, homes, town square and sidewalk cafes. It showed how cotton clothing, especially corduroy is the capital of Greenwich. That fashion is very avant-garde there. The film stated, Village life is cosmopolitan, yet relaxed and carefree. Later on it showed the Washington arch, which stands for free man it said. The film showed Washington square also and explained how it used to be for hangings and meetings, but now itÃÂs used for idle pleasures. The film also explained that Greenwich has a great sense of history; Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe, Thomas Edison, to name a few all lived there. (I think I remember hearing that from one of TimÃÂs speeches in The Cruise.) Overall, this short film gave a fairly good illumination of urban life.

Shotlist

Although the hippie ideal was fading in the late 1960s, marketers kept it
alive. The Greenwich Village of RFD Greenwich Village is filled with
"countrified cosmopolitans" who, while they appear to be beyond work and
money worries, belong to a Bohemian subculture (which never looked anything
like this). This representation of Manhattan is a tweak on Mayor John V.
Lindsay's early-sixties "Fun City." From the film's narration: "Village
life is cosmopolitan, yet relaxed and carefree. Pleasure is found in just
being alive. Suburban living, on an urban landscape. A time to pursue
personal pleasures, to find self-expression in comfortable clothing."
The film's title, referring to a suburban experience within the boundaries
of the city, is apt: "In the shadows of modern Manhattan, surrounded by
glass and steel, yet only a subway stop away from the seething city, with
its crowds of people, hectic workday schedules, and the office routine
. . . lies the sleepy village called Greenwich. A suburban oasis where one
can gather thoughts and enjoy the wonders of nature or saunter through
winding streets. . . . Here thousands of people live in an atmosphere much
like the one they left in their own hometown."
The film is a soft sell for cotton, except for a single moment when soft
sell becomes hard sell, and we are reminded who is behind the film: the
camera zooms into the fabric of a corduroy coat worn by a woman at a
sidewalk cafe. "Free from conservative business attire," the narrator tells
us, "the modern Villager finds comfort in cotton corduroy, the fabric woven
for the now generation."
The world of RFD Greenwich Village, like the cotton clothes it showcases,
is rather boring. An artificial sex- and drug-free environment created by
an advertiser, it is a scene without an edge and looks a lot like the
suburbia it purports to escape. Even the nightlife, which is supposed to be
"a world of contradiction, of paradoxes in life," is pretty tedious. There
is nothing really to do. The "party in the garret of a Bohemian friend"
features little more than out-of-date folk music and exotic Samoyed dogs.


01:00:03:00 - 01:00:19:00
VS tall, New York City buildings in midtown Manhattan

01:00:19:00 - 01:00:24:00
VS cars driving and people walking along busy city streets

01:00:24:00 - 01:00:32:00
VS women working in an office; MCU silhouetted profile of woman typing (view of New York City seen through window in BG)

01:00:33:00 - 01:00:39:00
LS Empire State Building in the foggy distance; track out to New York City view as seen from a window (with Empire State Building in the distance)

01:00:39:00 - 01:00:50:00
MS woman in backyard of Greenwich Village apartment, watering flowers; woman walks over to a lounge chair, sits back and relaxes

01:00:50:00 - 01:00:52:00
MS woman walking down quiet Greenwich Village street past row of apartments

01:00:52:00 - 01:01:16:00
VS Greenwich Village streets and houses; beautiful old brownstones, period buildings and ornate facades; track through dark tunnel to MS flowers and trees

01:01:17:00 - 01:01:36:00
MCU woman hanging laundry outside on clothes line; MS man kneeling at base of tree, digging soil for plants; MS woman arranging flowers in a vase; MS man planting in FG and woman arranging in BG; MCU man cooking hamburgers on grill; MS man and woman sitting at picnic table, surrounded by trees, eating and talking; cat enters frame, walking around (title superimposed over last part of shot reading "RFD Greenwich Village")

01:01:37:00 - 01:02:06:00
VS pedestrians walking along busy city streets; VS people riding motorcycles, bicycles, food vendors, etc, along city streets; VS man and woman riding bicycles together

01:02:06:00 - 01:02:08:00
High angle CU rake cleaning leaves at base of tree

01:02:08:00 - 01:02:10:00
CU woman's hand holding pitcher, watering a flower

01:02:10:00 - 01:02:12:00
CU woman's hand holding sponge, washing window pane

01:02:12:00 - 01:02:14:00
CU woman's hands holding picture of a sailboat on the ocean, placing it on the wall

01:02:14:00 - 01:02:16:00
MS worker putting white paint on wall with roller brush

01:02:16:00 - 01:02:22:00
MS woman walking into a dry cleaning store (kids peaking in the window in BG); MCU woman outside dry cleaners, leaning against window and reading

01:02:22:00 - 01:02:28:00
MS woman walking up stairs away from an antique shop; VS woman looking at merchandise through a window

01:02:28:00 - 01:02:30:00
MS 2 small village shops set side-by-side

01:02:30:00 - 01:02:33:00
CU books on a shelf (including "Rousseau and Revolution" and "Method or Madness"); woman's hand enters frame, removes a book from the shelf and opens it

01:02:33:00 - 01:03:03:00
VS people shopping at a street fruit and vegetable market; VS of CU berries, beans, peppers and oranges; low angle MCU woman weighing head of lettuce; VS different merchandise at street sale including flowers, canned goods and breads; MS woman walking down street carrying bag full of goodies

01:03:04:00 - 01:03:45:00
VS woman sits down at an outdoor cafe; MCU another woman sitting down and petting a dog; CU man's hands as he sketches woman and dog; MCU unique looking older man with grey hair, mustache and beard, sketching; waiter approaches other woman and gives her a menu; pan up to cafe window reading "O. Henry's"; MS woman reading menu; track in to ECU woman's corduroy coat; VS man walks to cafe and talks to woman; VS she smokes a cigarette as they converse

01:03:45:00 - 01:04:06:00
MS man in a shop, getting fitted for a jacket; MCU he looks at himself in the mirror as he straightens jacket; MS he walks out of store and down the street, carrying packages

01:04:06:00 - 01:04:32:00
MS woman walking up stairs toward boutique entrance; store is filled with mass-market knockoffs of mid-1960s mod and hip fashions; MS woman tries on hat as salesperson watches; CU hand moves dresses on rack aside revealing woman behind it, trying on a dress; track in to CU woman modeling dress; MCU woman puts on hair ornament and looks at herself in the mirror; high angle MS woman looking over her shoulder, talking

01:04:32:00 - 01:04:58:00
MS traffic on busy city street at night; CU yellow cab (taxi rates shown as 45 cents per 1/6 mile, 10 cents per 1/3 mile); VS Greenwich Village night life with lots of people and bright neon signs (including Garrick, Village Gate, Village Purple Onion, Steak Joint and Circle in the Square)

01:04:58:00 - 01:05:08:00
High angle MS spotlight moving across people in an audience; MCU men and women performing on theater stage; play looks vaguely avant-garde; VS cast members party after the performance

01:05:08:00 - 01:05:21:00
High angle MS man and woman entering "Ye Waverly Inn" restaurant; VS man and woman sitting at candle lit table, talking; woman holding a daisy, plucking the petals off (commercialized hippie "flower child" image)

01:05:21:00 - 01:06:04:00
MCU man and woman arrive at a party; VS people drinking, smoking and talking; CU people gathered around large, white dog, petting and kissing him; CU woman places 2 strands of "love beads" around man's neck; they hug and kiss

01:06:04:00 - 01:06:22:00
CU man's face; track out to MCU man sitting on park bench in Washington Square Park, reading; he suddenly looks up and catches a ball that's been thrown from o.s.; he throws it o.s.; MCU woman as she catches and throws ball, smiling; woman walks over to man; he puts his arm around her and they walk away; MS man and woman walk past spouting water fountain, holding hands

01:06:22:00 - 01:06:35:00
VS children playing in a city park (boy running, boys playing baseball, boy carefully walking through water fountain and girls climbing on a fence)

01:06:35:00 - 01:06:41:00
Low angle shot of sun shining through the trees; pan down to woman sitting under tree, reading

01:06:41:00 - 01:06:43:00
MS man and woman, in a park, laying on a blanket and looking around; little black dog barking and playing around

01:06:43:00 - 01:06:46:00
MS man and woman, in Washington Square park, sitting on a blanket and reading the newspaper, smiling

01:06:46:00 - 01:06:47:00
MS little black dog running in park, barking (people sitting on benches in FG)

01:06:47:00 - 01:06:50:00
MS woman and little boy sitting on the ground in a park; boy playing with toy car

01:06:50:00 - 01:06:56:00
MS group of older men sitting in a park, playing chess

01:06:56:00 - 01:07:05:00
VS musician playing instruments in a park

01:07:05:00 - 01:07:24:00
MS water fountain spewing behind an ornate stone arch (Washington Square Arch in Washington Square Park); VS of CU different carvings on arch; MS carved statue of George Washington

01:07:24:00 - 01:07:57:00
VS man and woman walking along city streets, talking and playing around; MS pan along beautiful old brownstones; MS apartment zoom in to MCU doorway

01:07:57:00 - 01:08:58:00
VS woman, wearing fancy green dress with pink bow, walking outside front door of old brownstone; she happily looks around as she walks down sidewalk; MS another woman, wearing fancy white dress and hat, walks along sidewalk in front of huge white apartment building, admiring flowers; MS another woman, wearing flowery dress and holding daisies, walking in park (beautiful old brownstones in BG); VS man and woman, nicely dressed, drinking wine as they walk around together (VS of city buildings in BG). Overall look is Renaissance Faire-like.

01:08:58:00 - 01:09:27:00
MS pan across row of Greenwich Village brownstones; VS beautiful old urban architecture including cellars, courtyards, ornate stair railing, restaurants and pan down old steeple

01:09:27:00 - 01:09:43:00
VS navy ships on water at dock; marines walking around in uniform

01:09:43:00 - 01:10:32:00
VS of life in the city including shots of "Isaacs-Hendricks House" plaque, statue of warrior, "Theater Delys" sign, store window, billboards, graffiti, mail delivery, man shopping, woman riding bicycle and people milling around in a park

01:10:32:00 - 01:10:37:00
MS people eating at outdoor cafe (titles superimposed over frame)

01:10:37:00 - 01:10:44:00
High angle man and woman walking along cobblestone street (titles superimposed over frame)

01:10:44:00 - 01:10:32:00
MS Washington Square arch at night (titles superimposed over frame)


Ken Smith sez: This cotton commercial disguised as a travelogue is chock full of misinformation, and uses New York City's Greenwich Village as a backdrop for a variety of ugly mid-sixties fashions. The Village is described as a "suburban oasis" and a "modern Casbah," and is apparently a clean, quiet place filled with happy, young, white people -- a place where "pleasure is found in just being alive" (still true). Scattered in among this drivel are the cotton fashion plugs, as we're told that Village "bohemians" find "self-expression in comfortable clothing," and that "cotton's casual appeal is in step with carefree living." It's fun to laugh at the guys in their Nehru jackets and the girls in their pant suits, but remember that today's Village residents will look just as stupid to our kids as the kids in this film look to us.

Cotton Producers Association (sponsor) Greenwich Village, New York City New York City (History and culture) Manhattan, N.Y. (history and culture) Buildings Traffic Workers (white-collar) Empire State Building, New York City Fashion (1960s) 1960s Houses and homes (brownstone) Brownstone houses Barbecues Leisure Recreation Gardens and gardening Bicycles and bicycling Bookstores Markets (street) Bleecker Street, New York City Food Restaurants Cafes Artists (street artists) Streets Counterculture (1960s) Corduroy Clothing Textile industry Nehru collars Nightlife Discotheques Theaters (off-Broadway) Restaurants Bohemians Music (folk) Parties Pets Washington Square, New York City Fountains Chess (players) Musical instruments Music (outdoor) Couples Artists and writers Clothing (sportswear)

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